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LONDON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Two European newspapers claimed to have evidence Wednesday Russian ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky profited from the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. The Financial Times and Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore conducted an investigation and claim to have documentary evidence former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein personally did business at least twice with Zhirinovsky. They tracked movements of two oil shipments through Zhirinovsky to the Russian oil company Tyumen, and also the Houston-based Bayoil. Under the U.N. plan, Iraq's oil exports were to be strictly controlled and used in exchange for food as the country was living under...

One of the next big chapters in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal will involve the family of the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, whose son turns out to have been receiving payments as recently as early this year from a key contractor in the oil-for-food program. The secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan, was previously reported to have worked for a Swiss-based company called Cotecna Inspection Services SA, which from 1998-2003 held a lucrative contract with the U.N. to monitor goods arriving in Saddam Hussein's Iraq under the oil-for-food program. But investigators are now looking into new information suggesting that the younger Annan received...

Charge Of Bribing Russia, France With Oil Silly: Annan New York, Oct. 17 (NNN): United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has dismissed allegations that France and Russia might have been willing to ease sanctions on Iraq in return for oil. Kofi Annan told the Jonathan Dimbleby programme on British TV channel ITV1 the claims were "inconceivable". "These are very serious and important governments. You are not dealing with banana republics," he added. The allegations were made earlier this month in a report by the US-led Iraqi Survey Group. Chief US weapons inspector Charles Duelfer said he had found evidence in...

From the New York Times. Wednesday, October 6, 2004, reported by Douglas Jehl on the 1,500 page report of Charles Duefler on the state of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq: "Mr. Duelfer said in the report that Iraq had made a conscious effort to maintain the knowledge base necessary to restart an illicit weapons program. He said that Iraq had essentially put its biological program "on the shelf" after its last production facility, Al Hakam, was destroyed by United Nations inspectors in 1996, and could have begun to produce biological [weapons] in as little as a month if it...

New York (dpa) - Two staff unions representing more than 50,000 United Nations employees worldwide asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday to withdraw the small team now aiding Iraqi preparations for elections next year because of growing insecurity. In a letter to Annan, the unions said, ``Long gone are the days when U.N. staff were immune from such violent acts. Instead, the U.N. regrettably has become a direct target, one that is particularly prone to attacks by ruthless extremist terrorist factions.'' The letter said that 28 to 32 staff members are already working in Iraq ``on a rolling...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In a move to win allies, the United States is considering honoring contracts made by Saddam Hussein's government under the U.N. oil-for-food program if the Security Council lifts sanctions against Iraq, diplomats said on Friday. The proposal was made by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte during a meeting of council members and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday and reported by several participants in the session. It would reimburse firms whose contracts had been approved and funded under the multibillion dollar program. Negroponte said a final decision had not been made. However, his comments indicated serious consideration...

FRANCE last week called for the suspension of sanctions against Iraq. This apparent magnanimity in defeat was hailed a breakthrough by the usual suspects who opposed the war in the first place and therefore hardly have Iraq’s best interests at heart. In fact, the French concession is a lot less than it seems. For a start, it proposes only the suspension of sanctions. Since the tyranny against whom the sanctions were directed has been swept away, plain folk will rightly ask why the sanctions are not being abolished altogether. More important, the Franco-Russian price for suspension is leaving the United...

Toogood Reports [Weekender, April 27, 2003; 12:01 a.m. EST]URL: http://ToogoodReports.com/ Immediately after the onset of the war on Iraq, our French "allies" decided — yet again — to punish us. Foreseeing the inevitable coalition victory, Pres. Jacques Chirac announced to the world, that the American and British "belligerents" had no right to administer postwar Iraq, or to profit from contracts rebuilding the country. According to Chirac, the French, on the other hand, who had for years illegally armed Saddam Hussein, and who had not sacrificed any blood or treasure to remove him from power, were uniquely deserving of such contracts....

My [wife] caught a report by Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn about the U.N. oil-for-food program. This hasn't been picked up anywhere, but it will come as a blockbuster revelation for anyone wondering why the French, Germans and Russians stood in the way of liberating Iraq. This program was supposed to help the starving Iraqi people. Instead, it was a cash cow. This is why I always tell you: follow the money. Kofi Annan personally oversaw this program, and okayed requests under this program for things like laser light show equipment and cartoon making apparatus for Baghdad Bob. The United...

Saddam Skimmed the UNBy London TimesLondon Times | April 23, 2003 KICKBACKS from Iraq’s oil sales have run into billions of dollars because of loopholes in the United Nations Oil-for-Food system designed to feed the Iraqi people. Diplomats said yesterday that Saddam Hussein’s regime sometimes exacted an illegal surcharge of as much as 55-75 cents (30-45p) a barrel on its daily oil sales of some two million barrels under the programme, although the amount was generally 15-25 cents. “We thought they were getting at least $500 million a year in illegal kickbacks,” one Western official said. The money funnelled to...

<p>April 22, 2003 -- WHY do you think France, Russia and China sided with Saddam Hussein in the United Nations Security Council against the invasion of Iraq? Because their support was bought and paid for by the Iraqi dictator. Now, in the ruins of his empire, the question is whether the world will honor his promised bribes.</p>

For years, Saddam Hussein abused the United Nations oil-for-food programme to fund Iraq's own illegal activities and reward the regime's favoured friends. The embargo may have been designed to "contain" Saddam, but several loopholes allowed him to earn billions of pounds in illegal revenues through oil sales. The papers found in Baghdad suggest that George Galloway, through his associates, was granted two kinds of deal. The first was the right to buy Iraq's oil, under the oil-for-food programme, at concessionary prices and sell it on at a profit. The second was to sell food and perhaps other civilian supplies to...